9.1;alarm_server, revision 9.1, 85/10/18
ALARM_SERVER -- Notify user about special events.
usage: /SYS/ALARM/ALARM_SERVER [options]
FORMAT
/SYS/ALARM/ALARM_SERVER [options]
The alarm server looks for a variety of conditions that may be of interest to
users or system administrators. When one of those conditions arises, the alarm
server pops a window on your display describing the condition and sounds an
audible alarm.
You should normally run the alarm server in a background process; this means
starting it with the DM command CPO. See EXAMPLES.
The conditions on which the alarm server can report are:
Potential disk overflow
You are notified when the disk containing your / directory
(diskless users please note) starts to run out of free space.
Severe network problems
You are notified whenever there is a new network hardware
failure message, indicating severe network problems. The
hardware failure message is described in the NETSTAT
documentation.
Observer reports from NETMAIN_SRVR
You are notified whenever one of the observers in the
NETMAIN_SRVR program makes a report on unusual network
conditions. This option is interesting only to the network
system administrator.
Brief messages from other users
You can use the SEND_ALARM program to direct short messages to
other users or nodes (see "related topics", below).
Optional software
The ALARM_SERVER is also used with certain optional software
packages. The appropriate software user's manuals give
complete instructions on the use of the ALARM_SERVER with the
optional software packages (see "related topics", below).
Each condition is checked once every four minutes, or at some other interval
set by the -PERIOD option, but alarms may not be posted every time the
condition is checked. See the description of each alarm to find out what that
alarm's scheduling policy is.
Use ALARM_SERVER only through the DM command CPO. Do not use it as a server
process (via CPS). Many people start their alarm servers in their
~USER_DATA/STARTUP_DM command files.
OPTIONS
Default options are indicated by "(D)."
-DISK[_FULL] [nn]
Notifies you when the disk containing your / directory is
more than <nn> percent full. This alarm does not run unless
you specify the -DISK_FULL option. If you omit <nn>, it is
set to 95 (percent full). If you do not clean off the disk,
or if the disk-full condition recurs, the alarm is posted
again. After notifying you twice, the alarm will not be
posted again for at least an hour.
-HW[_FAIL] Notifies you when some node detects network hardware
problems (as seen in the 'Last ring hardware failure'
section of a NETSTAT -L report). Hardware failures are not
checked unless you specify this option. Only new failure
reports cause alarms.
-NETMAIN [pathname ...]
Enables alarms from NETMAIN observers. The pathname[s], if
specified, represent text files containing lists of node
that run NETMAIN_SRVR. If no pathname is specified, the
file ~user_data/alarm_server.netmain_srvr_list is used. The
files should contain lists of node names or hex node ID
numbers, separated by spaces or on different lines.
Comments in these files start with { or # characters, and
run to the end of the line.
The alarm server reads these files only when it starts up.
If you add or delete node names in these files after the
server is running, your changes will not take effect until
the next time the server starts up.
-NM_SRVR node_spec [...]
Enables alarms from NETMAIN observers. <node_spec>
specifies a node from which you want observer alarms.
<node_spec> may be a hex node ID number or a node name.
-NONETMAIN (D) This option prevents the alarmer from checking for observer
alarms from the NETMAIN_SRVR program.
-MSG (D) Allows the alarm server to receive messages from the
SEND_ALARM program. The MBX_HELPER program must be running
for this to work.
-NOMSG Prevents the alarm server from receiving SEND_ALARM
messages.
-NETS Notifies you when a network disappears from your internet
or appears in your internet. This is useful only in DOMAIN
internet environments.
-NONETS (D) Suppresses alarms describing changes in the internet
topology.
-BELL1 Normally, a distinctive tone pattern accompanies each kind
of alarm. If you specify this option, a single short beep
is used for any alarm.
-NOBELL Normally, each kind of alarm is accompanied by an audible
alarm. This option suppresses the audible alarm.
-P[ERIOD] nnn
Each alarm-detector is checked every <nnn> minutes. By
default, nnn is 4 minutes. It must always be at least one
minute.
-V[ECTOR] dx [dy]
Selects the offset from each alarm window to the next, in
pixels. Defaults: dx = 235, dy = 0.
-W[INDOW] initx [inity [width [height]]]
Sets the screen position of the first alarm window and the
size of the alarm windows, in pixels. Defaults: initx = 1,
inity = 1, width = 225, height = 100.
EXAMPLES
Command: CPO /sys/alarm/alarm_server -disk 98 -bell1
Command: CPO /sys/alarm/alarm_server '*~user_data/opts' -n alarms
This is a very useful form of the command. It lets you
create an options file (in this case ~user_data/opts)
and use that file to control the alarm server. The alarm
server's process is named by the -n option. In this case,
the process is called "alarms".
Note on ACLs:
Occasionally, the alarm server will print a warning message about a file
called '.../alarm_server.msg_mbx' as it starts up. These messages can come
from a variety of basic problems, but many times the problem comes from ACLs.
The alarm server can usually handle these ACL problems by changing the ACLs on
its message mailboxes automatically, but it will sometimes need outside help.
If you want to receive SEND_ALARM messages from other nodes, you need to run
the MBX_HELPER, and the ACLS on two files must allow the MBX_HELPER program
read/write access. You should normally run MBX_HELPER via the DM command CPS;
this means it is assigned an SID of 'user.server.none' when it starts up.
Make sure that the files
`NODE_DATA/ALARM_SERVER.MSG_MBX
<your-home_directory>/USER_DATA/ALARM_SERVER.MSG_MBX
both allow read/write access to 'user.server.none'.
RELATED TOPICS
More information is available. Type:
- HELP CPO
for details on starting background processes.
- HELP MBX_HELPER
to find out how to start the mailbox helper needed by SEND_ALARM.
- HELP NETMAIN_SRVR
for details about collecting network statistics (for system administrators
only).
- HELP NETMAIN
for details about displaying the data collected by NETMAIN_SRVR.
- HELP LVOLFS
to see how to generate exact figures on a disk's free space.
- HELP NETSTAT
for a more detailed description of the network hardware failure message.
- HELP LCNET
for a complete description of the internet topology as seen by your node.
- HELP SEND_ALARM
to see how to send short messages to other users.
- Additional information is available for using the alarm_server with certain
optional software packages. For example, the DOMAIN Software Engineering
Environment (DSEE) is an optional software package which the alarm_server
supports. Typing HELP DSEE ALARM_SERVER will provide additional information,
if DSEE is installed on your system.